365 Days of Art: May 5 – Winslow Homer Sketches Civil War Battle

Winslow Homer, Skirmish in the Wilderness, 1864

May 5, 1864

While traveling with the Union army, Winslow Homer observes and sketches the Battle of the Wilderness, which he later turns into a painting.

Skirmish in the Wilderness, the painting, depicts the first meeting between the troops of Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, in northern Virginia.